A known opening and closing control apparatus for a roof panel for a vehicle includes an opening and closing device for driving the roof panel to open and close, an operation command means for outputting an operation command for opening and closing the roof panel by means of an operation switch, a vehicle speed detecting means, and a controlling means for controlling an operation of the opening and closing device. Such opening and closing control apparatus is disclosed in JP3926992B. In order to prevent an occurrence of noise caused by air flowing into a vehicle interior, the opening and closing control apparatus disclosed includes a controlling means that performs an open and close control for operating an opening and closing device so that a roof panel moves to a predetermined position where the roof panel is opened to such an extent that air flowing into the vehicle interior is reduced. The open and close control is performed under the condition that the roof panel is moving to a fully open position and a vehicle speed detecting means detects a predetermined vehicle speed.
According to the aforementioned opening and closing control apparatus, a movement of the roof panel to the fully open position is conducted by a separate switch/button from that for the open and close control performed by the controlling means. In order to move the roof panel to the fully open position by operating the separate switch/button, in a case where the opening and closing device is operated by pressing and holding the separate switch/button to move the roof panel to the fully open position, the roof panel may not move to the fully open position against an intention of an operator if the pressing and holding time of the separate switch/button by the operator is insufficient. When the roof panel is not moving to the fully open position, the controlling means does not perform the open and close control even when the vehicle speed detecting means detects the predetermined speed.
A need thus exists for an opening and closing control apparatus for a roof panel for a vehicle which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.